Typhoon Bilis Moves in on Taiwan

T A I P E I, Taiwan, Aug. 22, 2000 -- Typhoon Bilis pounded Taiwan with powerful winds and heavy rains today, and workersshut offices and headed home early to prepare for more fierce weather.

One man was killed and another was missing, disaster response officials at the National Fire Administration said.

At 11:00 GMT, the storm’s center was about 93 miles southeast of the southeastern city of Taitung and bearing down on Taiwan at 14 miles per hour, the Central WeatherBureau said.

Packing sustained winds of 118 miles per hour and gusts of upto 93 miles per hour, Bilis is more powerful than Typhoon Zeb,which killed 31 people and injured 19 in 1998.

The diameter of Bilis is large enough to cover the island.

Typhoon rains caused a retaining wall to collapse on acontractor in Taipei county — the first person on the officialcasualty list.

A doctor mountain climbing in eastern Taiwan’s scenicTaroko Gorge was missing and rescue teams had started a search,an administration spokeswoman said.

She said officials had temporarily lost contact with eightmembers of a government documentary film crew in centralTaiwan’s Kaohsiung county.

Airline flights to southern Taiwan were cancelled and somecarriers called off all domestic flights.

International departures were moved forward and arrivalsdelayed in the hope of avoiding the worst of the storm.

Shelter for Chinese Fishermen

Port authorities bent the rules for about 1,000 mainlandChinese fishermen working aboard Taiwan vessels, allowing themto come on shore for shelter.

Taiwan law forbids fishermen from political rival Chinafrom setting foot on the island, and usually requires them toremain aboard ships moored at port during heavy weather.

The central bank called off afternoon trade in foreignexchange and money markets on today and said the marketswould stay closed on Wednesday.

Stock trading ended at the usual time, but officials say the stockmarket would be closed on Wednesday.

Bilis is expected to cut across the island’s south nearTaitung and head for the southeastern Chinese province ofFujian. It is advancing north-northwest on Taiwan at 22 km perhour.

Early Storm Warning

Taiwan issued land and sea warnings for the storm onMonday.

China’s official Xinhua news agency said Bilis was forecastto hit southern and central Fujian at around noon on Wednesdayand the observatory in Xiamen city issued a storm warning.

With Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian on a tour of Africa,Vice-President Annette Lu headed to the fire administration totake charge of relief operations.

“This Typhoon Bilis looks as if it is coming on veryfierce,” Lu told reporters. “Although President Chen is out ofthe country, his heart is with us and we hope the whole nationcan get through the night safely.”

Many government offices and private businesses were closedby this afternoon, and markets did brisk morning business asshoppers stocked up on food and bottled water.

The Council of Agriculture said it asked farmers to putalmost 7,000 tons of vegetables in frozen storage tostabilize prices after the storm.